“After Auschwitz,
they said something like that could never happen in Europe again. But it
did, and UN troops were there to watch it. I remember the fear, the
crying, the hysteria. They knew they were being taken to their deaths.”

-- Dr Daniel
O'Brien, a doctor with Medecins sans Frontieres, who witnessed the fall of
the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995. (“The Horror of Srebrenica” The
Times of London, 4/19/2001)

Four
years ago, I wrote an article arguing that the United Nations, Holland and
France were implicated in the slaughter of the male population of
Srebrenica. At the time many apologists for the Bosnian Serbs claimed that
the whole “incident” was an exaggeration. Last year, The Bosnian Serbs
confessed their role in the massacre. And last week, a video emerged
proving that the Scorpions, a unit of Special Forces of the Serbian Army,
also took part in the carnage. The United Nations should open its files
and confess to their criminal failure to prevent the atrocity at
Srebrenica. The case against Butros Butros-Ghali, then Secretary General
of the United Nations is especially compelling. For the sake of the
integrity of the international legal system, he too should stand trial at
The Hague.

Abandoning Srebrinicia (originally published in July 2001)

When UN commander
Morillon arrived in Srebrenica in March 1993, shortly after it had been
officially designated a safe haven, he gave this promise to the 45,000
residents and refugees: “I will never abandon you.” Two years later, Dutch
UN troops were handing the Bosnians over to the Serbs for certain
slaughter. Last year, in a speech to the Serbian parliament, Cedomir
Javanovic, a deputy from the DOS ruling coalition admitted, “We are
obliged to say that 7,500 people went missing in the Srebrenica region and
that those whom we parted from last September (Milosovic) are to blame for
it.”

Ten years ago, in
the largest massacre in post-war Europe since World War II, thousands of
Bosnian Muslim men and boys were murdered in cold blood by the Serb
militias under the command of General Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic.
The victims had no reason to fear for their lives. They were in a United
Nations protected 'safe haven' with hundreds of Dutch soldiers assigned to
defend them against the three-year Serb campaign of ethnic cleansing. The
international community, with the full backing of the United States and
NATO, had given ironclad guarantees that Srebrenica would be a safe
sanctuary for Bosnian refugees. Butros-Ghali, the Secretary General of the
United Nations, had the authority to direct NATO air strikes against any
Serb assaults against Srebrenica. Yet, the UN stood by, while the entire
adult and teenage male population was systematically butchered.

At Srebrenica, the
world turned a blind eye to the mass killings of unarmed civilians who
were, for all practical matters, wards of the United Nations and the
“civilized” world. The commanding officer of the Dutch contingent, Colonel
Thom Karremans, was photographed having a drink with General Mladic and
his goons. The Dutch are still investigating the behavior of their
officers. One officer, Captain Ron Rutten has confessed that the Dutch
soldiers helped the Serbs to split the Bosnians into groups of 60 or 70
and pile them into buses destined for the killing fields. He actually
provided the Dutch government with film and photographs to back up his
claim. One need only imagine why this evidence “mysteriously” disappeared
from the files of the Dutch officials that are still “investigating”
Srebrenica.

At the time of the
massacre, General Bertrand Janvier of France headed the UN Protection
Force. The Dutch officers claim that they repeatedly requested air support
from the French General, who declined to provide any assistance. The UN
failure was no simple accident. There are allegations that UN commanders
had secretly agreed not to use force against the Serbian forces moving in
on Srebrenica, in exchange for the earlier release of several hundred UN
personnel who had been held hostage by the Bosnian Serbs.

In France, an
inquiry by the Parliament into the actions of Gen. Bernard Janvier was
eventually approved after years of lobbying by Doctors without Borders.
This international medical aid group has repeatedly testified in
international forums that even the sick and wounded under its care were
evacuated under Dutch escort and then forced off buses and handed over to
the Serb executioners.

When the Serbs began
shelling Srebrenica, the Bosnians asked the Dutch to return the weapons
they had surrendered in exchange for “safe haven.” But the Dutch officers
rejected even this basic right of self-defense. Later, the Dutch
“Peacekeepers” handed over about 5,000 Muslims who had taken shelter at
the Dutch base at Potocari. It was in exchange for 14 Dutch peacekeepers
held by the Serbs. This story only gets worse. Some survivors allege that
retreating Dutch troops drove their tanks into a crowd of Bosnian Muslims
near the village of Jaglici, killing between 20 and 30 people.

Over the course of
the next three days the Serbs indulged in an orgy of killing. It took a
few days to kill and bury so many prisoners. At no time did the United
Nations attempt to intervene, even after the Dutch troops had escaped to
safety. Butros-Ghali and his “peacekeepers” abandoned the “save haven” and
didn't bother to look back until every last able-bodied Srebrenica male
had been slaughtered.

It now appears that
The United Nations had cut a deal that allowed the Serbs to obliterate the
entire male population of a major Southern European town. The French and
the Dutch were in on the deal. It is safe to assume that members of the
Clinton administration also gave a nod to the agreement. It would have
been highly unlikely that Chirac, Clinton, Warren Christopher and
Butros-Ghali were unaware of exactly what was going on. Like Sabra and
Shatila, the slaughter went on for days. Enough time for intelligence
briefings and enough time for intervention.

Some 15,000 Serbian
troops were involved in this slaughter and the mass deportation of the
women and children of Srebrenica. Yet, the war crimes tribunal in The
Hague has issued only a few indictments. It is certainly encouraging that
Milosevic, who bore the ultimate responsibility for Srebrenica, is on
trial and will face a measure of justice. But, Ratko Mladic and Radovan
Karadzic are still on the loose, reportedly in the French sector of
Bosnia. Many others who had a hand in the mass killing remain
unidentified.

This is not a matter
that we can ever close the files on. At some point, we need a full
accounting of the Dutch, the French and the international civil servants
who broke their commitments to provide safety for the citizens of
Srebrenica. Butros-Ghali needs to answer for his failure to prevent the
slaughter. It is worth noting that Butros-Ghali also turned a blind eye to
the 1994 genocide of roughly 800,000 Tutsis in Rwanda. A few years behind
bars for the former UN chief should sober up international civil servants
that might be inclined to passively participate in war crimes.

It is also essential
for American officials to come clean about what they knew about the “safe
haven” slaughter and the exact role of the Clinton administration in
participating in the subsequent French and Dutch cover-up. The government
of Serbia also needs to be more active in identifying the missing mass
graves and those who dug them. We owe it to the surviving widows and
orphans of what was once a vibrant community. The world failed to protect
their men and boys from an act of genocide committed in broad daylight
under the eyes of Dutch “peacekeepers” serving under the colors of the
Dutch flag. Having failed to provide the sanctuary promised, we should at
least assure their survivors that their loved ones will get a decent
burial, a little truth and a little justice.